Coalition financial planning highlights

The following are some of the interesting points arising from the Conservative - Liberal coalition Government:

• Emergency budget within 50 days.
• Substantial increase in the personal income tax allowance from April 2011
• Taxing non-business capital gains at rates similar or close to those applied to income, with generous exemptions for entrepreneurial business activities
• Possible restrictions on higher rate tax relief on pension contributions
• Unlikley to be immediate substantial changes to Inheritance Tax
• An increase in Employer National Insurance thresholds
• Phasing out the default retirement age, set the date at which the state pension age starts to rise to 66, although it will not be sooner than 2016 for men and 2020 for women
• End to the rules requiring compulsory annuitisation of pensions at 75.
• Expectation that VAT will increase to 20%
• Limitation to the Child Trust Fund
• Fair and transparent payments to Equitable Life policy holders, for their relative loss as a consequence of regulatory failure